A COMPARISON REPORT BETWEEN HBL AND BANK ALFALAH

BY MURTAZA MOIZ | SP11-MM-0002

Why websites important to Banks? And what are the rules for having a good banking website?
Why Websites for Banks?
Online banking and investment services have become big business in recent years. Whether its a tiny local bank or a major, multi-national one, if a bank wants to be successful, a user-friendly, well-designed website is a necessity. But that doesnt mean every bank out there has a great site. In fact, a lot of bank websites barely manage in terms of usability and functionality, and leave a lot lacking in the design area.

Five Rules for Better Bank Websites

Internet banking is here to stay and the major banks are all busy figuring out how to expand their business online. Online banking is all about convenience and functionality but what about the banks public website? It is often a struggle to achieve the right balance between information and product sales, between user functionality and marketing requirements. Here are 5 golden rules for the design of effective banking sites: Rule 1 - Understand your Users The most crucial rule in designing a banking website is to understand your users. Who they are? Why are they coming here? What is it they want to do? Most users will come to a banking website with a specific goal, often to access online banking or find out information on a product. All users of course want their areas of interest to be given priority. By understanding your users needs you can decide how your website should be structured, you can group users and understand what services and information should be given priority and indeed which services should be offered online (users may apply for a car loan online but will they apply for a mortgage?). You will also be able to define the balance of your website and provide appropriate options on the homepage and related areas within the site (i.e. Personal Business, New Customers-Existing Customers) Understand why users are visiting your site and what they are looking for. Rule 2 - The Visual Design is Crucial The look and feel of any website is crucial, but it is especially so with banking websites. If the look and feel is too corporate or business-like, users will think it bland. If its too loud and exciting, users will think that the bank is trying too hard and is out of touch with their needs expectations. It is crucial to achieve a balanced look and feel that is appropriate with the banks own identity. Attention to the style of content, tone of voice and imagery used in the design is critical. Users don't expect to entertained by bank sites, however they do need to be able to find and read relevant information quickly and easily. Visual design is vital in making screens easy to navigate and ensuring that relevant information stands out. Design consistent layouts and ensure good contrast for readability. Incorporating visual imagery form TV campaigns can be very effective in giving the site an instant and familiar appeal with customers.

Rule 3 - Provide Relevant Content Many banks see their website as a sales portal. However customers see it as an information resource. It can be very difficult to define exactly what content to put on the site. Many banks over emphasize the sales pitch and it can damage user trust. Online users prefer to read all of the details and then decide for themselves. It is important that the bank provides up-front information on all charges and is accurate when talking about interest rates. Bank customers love facts. Provide them with clear information on products and services and they will take notice. Effective bank sites progressively disclose their products and offerings providing information, interactive tools (enabling customers to assess products online) and then a call to action either online or phone. Rule 4 - Users Need to Feel Secure Security is a key factor. Banking websites must remind users that their sites are secure; this of particular importance with less-regular web users. However security alerts must be presented in a sensible way. Avoid overly alarming language and presentation. Make it immediately obvious where the problem is (i.e. fraudulent emails, virus alerts), otherwise users may consider the problem to be with the website as a whole and may stop using it completely. Rule 5 - Online Banking Must Be Easy To Access Many of the users who visit a banks website will be doing so in order to access their online banking. It is crucial that this is as easy as possible for the user. Make sure the option is visible and easy to find, also ensure that new customers can find out more about the service and how to register and how it works.

Banks selected for comparison

Under the guidelines described above, I am going to explain difference of services providing between HBL and Bank Alfalah Pakistan, two of the best retail banks in Pakistan which are always pioneer in adding several new dimensions to the banking aspect in Pakistan.

Introduction
Habib Bank Limited HBL HBL was the first commercial bank to be established in Pakistan in 1947. Over the years, HBL has grown its branch network and become the largest private sector bank with over 1,450 branches across the country and a customer base exceeding five million relationships. The Government of Pakistan privatized HBL in 2004 through which AKFED acquired 51% of the Bank's shareholding and management control. HBL is majority owned (51%) by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, 42.5% of the shareholding is retained by the Government of Pakistan (GOP), whilst 7.5% is owned by the general public i.e. over 170,000 shareholders following the public listing that took place in July 2007. With a presence in 25 countries, subsidiaries in Hong Kong and the UK, affiliates in Nepal, Nigeria, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan and rep offices in Iran and China, HBL is also the largest domestic multinational. The Bank is expanding its presence in principal international markets including the UK, UAE, South and Central Asia, Africa and the Far East.

Key areas of operations encompass product offerings and services in Retail and Consumer Banking. HBL has the largest Corporate Banking portfolio in the country with an active Investment Banking arm. SME and Agriculture lending programs and banking services are offered in urban and rural centers. Rating HBL is currently rated AA (Long term) and A-1+ (Short term) and has a balance sheet size of USD 10.2 billion. It is the first Pakistani bank to raise Tier II Capital from external sources.

Bank Alfalah Pakistan

Bank Alfalah Limited was incorporated on June 21st, 1992 as a public limited company under the Companies Ordinance 1984. Its banking operations commenced from November 1st ,1997. The bank is engaged in commercial banking and related services as defined in the Banking companies ordinance, 1962. The Bank is currently operating through various branches in Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh & Afghanistan, with the registered office at B.A.Building, I.I.Chundrigar, Karachi. Since its inception, as the new identity of H.C.E.B after the privatization in 1997, the management of the bank has implemented strategies and policies to carve a distinct position for the bank in the market place. Strengthened with the banking of the Abu Dhabi Group and driven by the strategic goals set out by its board of management, the Bank has invested in revolutionary technology to have an extensive range of products and services. This facilitates their commitment to a culture of innovation and seeks out synergies with clients and service providers to ensure uninterrupted services to its customers. They perceive the requirements of their customers and match them with quality products and service solutions. During the past five years, they have emerged as one of the foremost financial institution in the region endeavoring to meet the needs of tomorrow today.

Comparison between HBL & Bank Alfalah

Understanding users HBL They provide following services to their individual account holders 1. CarToCar 2. Car Loan 3. Credit Cards 4. Home Loan 5. Deposit Accounts 6. Bancassurance 7. Debit Card 8. Phone Banking 9. FastTransfer 10. Mutual Funds Bank Alfalah Pakistan They provide following services to their individual account holders 1. Deposit Accounts 2. Lending & Deposit Rates 3. Lockers 4. Remittance 5. Hilal / Debit Card 6. Credit Cards 7. Home Loans 8. Auto/Vehicle Loans 9. Prepaid Card 10. Debit Card

They are providing the following services to their business consumers 1. Corporate Banking 2. Commercial Banking 3. Investment Banking 4. Islamic Banking 5. Cash Management 6. Zarai Banking 7. Global Treasury 8. Asset Management Visual Design Compactness HBL sports a complete compact and sleek design and not taking much space on the screen giving a calming effect to the eyes with matured selection of colours in Green, Golden and White Font Selection HBL stepped forward in going compact and for the same reason they applied Verdana font sized 10px for main heading in upper case and the same in normal case for secondary heading and apart from that a Verdana font sized 8 for body. Illustration Theyve selected nice blend of illustrative aspects while maintain the website, in short, minimal but catchy. Curved rectangle with blend of green, golden and white in such proportion that it doesnt look awkward. Loading time During my visit to the website, on Wi-Tribe 1Mb broadband connection, on Mozilla Firefox 4.0 on Windows 7 Ultimate, HBL completely loaded onto my browser in mere 8 seconds. Because of the Ajax, Marquee and other Javascript supported options. Navigation Navigation was somewhat tricky here, for an Average Joe, it might be a riddle hard to solve when hovering over the menus for finding a particular service or offer. Providing relevant information Easy Accessibility As I earlier mentioned that consumers love actual facts and figures instead of ambiguous or over-exaggerated chunks of information. At HBL, theyve emphasized on the same but the gray part of it is that because of their menu-bar which is minute and needs to be hovered in order to access the information, things might get

They are providing the following services to their business consumers 1. Structured Finance 2. Trade Finance 3. Lease Finance 4. SME 5. Agri-Finance 6. Islamic Banking Services

Bank Alfalah Pakistan also has a sleek and compact design, which doesnt take much space the screen and allows the main matter in the middle. Bank Alfalah also sports a clear font selection and for gaining attention, they opted dynamic colour selection with font selection complimenting it to great deal.

Colour combinations do compliment the overall material, as the primary colour combination of the site is blue, which shows stability, and that is what portrayed during the visit to its website.

During my visit to the website, on my Wi-Tribe 1Mb broadband connection, on Mozilla Firefox 4.0 on Windows 7 Ultimate, Bank Alfalah loaded onto my browser in mere 7 seconds, it also sports some heavy use of scripting options which enables pages to load quickly Navigation was smoother here, as all the services they provide to their customers which they feel their customers would be requiring most, is up front and so less emphasize weighted on hovered menus and sub-menus

Although compared to HBL, Bank Alfalah is providing small number of services to its customers, but still because of the simple outlook of the website, its much easier for a non-tech-savvy consumer to roam around the website with complete ease, and not getting lost while swiveling around the website.

somewhat difficult for an Average Joe, because of abundance of hover and sub-hover menus, causing irritation to a common consumer and because of that a customer has to stay longer on the website. Swift Service HBL along with certain other banks have started to work on the internet-banking version, which is a time saving option as it enables to have your virtual presence to open an account. Similarly with HBL, they also offer internet banking facility and being the pioneer of banks in Pakistan, majority of people opt for HBL as theyve the largest banking system in Pakistan, but the drawback is that because of an ambiguous menu-bar with complicated options, users have to stay longer in order to have selected their desired option, although this observation is only based on the newbies and not on regular customers whore accustomed with the website structure. Customer Relations Because of their large scale of business, I personally feel they possess the largest scale of consumer base of Pakistan in and outside Pakistan. But when it comes to their customer based relationships, I felt while activating my own Visa Debit Card, that although they activated my Visa Debit Card on Phone but still I in order to apply for my frequency of account statements, I had to visit my home branch, being a student its not a problem but still in what-soever circumstances one has to visit the branch for some purpose. Although periodically they phone you taking feedback off their services. Security Measures Verification HBL online banking system is verified by VeriSign Inc. and so one can blindly rely on the online banking version of HBL. Mobile Banking All Mobile communication to HBL is connected and verified through Thawte Inc. which enables consumers to have faith on their mobile session Bank Alfalah currently lags over here as well. Here Bank Alfalah lags as they dont support online banking right now. Relatively smaller in size, they provide more quality services. You create an account on website and in matter of hours they call you on the number which you entered while filling out the form, and theyll further clarify if any and open your account on the spot, the only condition is that youll have to visit your nearest branch to sign the relevant documents or else the account will be closed in 48 Hours. They also wish you birthday by sending cards and/or a small gift in return to strengthen the relationship. Bank Alfalah, gains a good position in its service providing as because of their simple website, structure, any newbie is quite capable of roaming around the website with quite ease of utilization of the facilities mentioned on the website. Options like opening of several accounts like Current, Savings or Loan Accounts is given up-front and so one do not have to click here-n-there for finding a particular service altogether.

Misc. They provide way-through to the site from their Quick Links Menu and Site Maps Criteria.

Bank Alfalah lags this option as well.

One thing which both sides lag is presence of a site-cum-web-search engine, which limits consumers when they roam into their banks website. Internet Banking Ease of Use HBLs internet banking is probably the best in the business in Pakistan, and so they are continuously busy in making it easier to use. I personally feel that its online banking GUI is way attractive than any other banks which providing facility of online banking-viawebsites. Signing up is also like counting 123. Entertainment Download Options They give an option to their customers to download HBL ringing tones, Terms and Conditions to their Mobile Banking via Ufone, Wallpapers, Documentary regarding life at HBL and information regarding their corporate profile easily accessible through their downloads menu.

I didnt find any option on their website regarding internet banking-via-their-ownwebsite.

Bank Alfalah also lags this option and so a customer can get bored while roaming through the website.

Conclusion:
I personally feel that HBL being the patron in banks in Pakistan takes privilege being the pioneer bank in the country in every aspect of modern-day-banking. ~~The End~~